Day 43 – Mountain Weather

Silver Cliff, Co to Salida, Co – 56 miles

Yesterday was an early morning at Tim and Marilyn’s.  The views surrounding their house are incredible.

Marilyn made some delicious breakfast that even included fresh made from scratch blueberry muffins – incredible.  I was seriously spoiled last night.  When I was at the pizza place yesterday researching somewhere to camp the prospects weren’t great.  I was exhausted and I was not looking forward to biking around looking for a campsite.  Thanks again for the hospitality Tim, Marilyn, and Daisy!

Tim drove me back into town and I was on my way again.  The goal was a short day to Salida only about 50 miles or so.  The mountain valley was gorgeous.  There weren’t any big climbs just rolling hills surrounded by grandiose peaks.

Eventually I climbed a small hill then descended a huge one into the Arkansas River valley.  The road descended into a deep canyon with steep walls on both sides.  The route joined Hwy 50 at Cotopaxi.  It was one of the few stops on the way, so I took a break and bought some fruit from the convenience store.  Hwy 50 followed the Arkansas Rive the rest of the way up to Salida.  The river was raging because of all the rain they’ve been getting.  There were a good amount of whitewater rafting, but I didn’t see anyone kayaking it.

Hwy 50 wasn’t very fun as usual.  Traffic was fairly busy at times with the occasional semi.  Most people were pretty good about giving me plenty of room, but there was one semi that didn’t seem to move over at all and as he kept getting closer I actually went off the road.  Almost lost it, but was able to hop back on without falling.

I rolled into Salida at around 4 PM.  It’s a good sized town, Walmart, McDonalds, all that stuff.  The downtown has done a good job of maintaining it’s mountain feel and character.  I explored a little and then went to find a campsite as close to town as possible, so I could come back into town and have a beer or two, after all it was Saturday.  After going to a couple bike shops and talking to some people, I figured out that the camping area on the way into town was probably the best option. It’s pretty nice that there is so much protected land that you can camp on without a fee.  It’s usually pretty primitive, but paying $20 just to throw down a tent seems crazy.

I found a good spot, unloaded my gear, setup my tent, and then headed back into town in search of some wifi.  Ended up at a restaurant called Benney’s Tavern, I think.  Ordered a spicy chicken caesar warp and a beer.  The Stanley Cup finals were on, Blackhawks vs. Lightning.  The series was tied at 2-2 and the game was really good, fast paced, and hard hitting.  Blackhawks won 2-1.  I stayed for awhile and had a couple beers.  Didn’t talk to many people.  It seemed like everyone kind of had their own thing going on, which was just fine with me.

At some point it started raining pretty hard and I realized I didn’t bring any of my rain gear.  I tried to wait it out and eventually it slow down enough, so I went for it.  The campsite was only around 1-2 miles from the restaurant, but it was dark and the rain kept picking up as I started to get out of town.  By the time I was back to my tent, I was soaked.  Next time, I’m going to bring my rain gear.